Smithfield rejects Buffalo Road subdivision

SMITHFIELD — To win Town Council approval of a subdivision, a developer had already agreed to 17 conditions. During more than two hours of discussion on June 18, the council extracted three more and made one existing condition more restrictive.

Still, it wasn’t enough. In a 4-3 vote,  the council said no to Buffalo Ridge, which called for 210 single-family homes on 140 acres along Buffalo Road near Holland Drive.

Councilman Travis Scott found fault with lot sizes of 6,000 square feet. In Smithfield, the minimum for a single-family home is 8,000 square feet, though new land-use rules allow some give-and-take on lot sizes and similar matters.

“I don’t know why we have a UDO if we’re not going to use it,” Scott said, referring to Smithfield’s Unified Development Ordinance, which sets the 8,000-square-foot standard.

“We already have a major water issue in this area,” he added, fearing that more rooftops, driveways and streets would make flooding worse. “And the traffic is also a major issue in this area.”

“I just struggle with why we are even considering this,” Scott said.

Neighbors in nearby Bradford Park shared Scott’s concerns.

Rick Buckner was skeptical of developers’ claims that they’re building houses on small lots because that’s what buyers want and can afford. “I know that they say, ‘Well, that’s just what the market dictates,’ ” he said.

But “the market’s definitely being groomed by developers and investors,” Buckner said. “And city councils are kind of helping to enable that when it comes to density.”

He had his own notion of economics. “If you provide some houses that have bigger lots and they don’t sell, guess what happens,” Buckner said. “The prices go down; people can afford them again.”

Buckner fretted too about traffic on Buffalo Road and beyond. “It’s going to add a lot of additional traffic to Second and Third streets because all those people are going to have to go through that neighborhood in order to get to 70,” he said, referring to Market Street, which is also U.S. 70 Business. “So it doesn’t just affect Buffalo Road.”

Gene Bruton said stormwater runoff from Buffalo Ridge would be more than the area could handle. “I am greatly, greatly, greatly concerned about the water problem,” he said. “You’re making the lots smaller, you’re putting roads in there. The water is not going to be able to soak down in the ground.”

“It’s going to be flooding like you never imagined,” Bruton said. “I can tell you my home will be affected by what’s going on. I’ll guarantee it.”

Together, the town’s planning director and project manager for the developer tried to assure neighbors and the council that Buffalo Ridge would meet all state and local mandates for stormwater and traffic.

“We do require stormwater management,” Planning Director Stephen Wensman said. “They are going to meet the UDO for stormwater management.”

The N.C. Department of Transportation, meanwhile, will require the developer to build turn lanes and make other road improvements if needed, noted Greg Stewart of Rhetson Companies, the developer. “The DOT will make sure the project doesn’t impede traffic,” he said. “They will not let us put any driveway or any type of situation or development that is going to cause a traffic hazard.”

The developer’s request was for a conditional rezoning, allowing, for example, those smaller lots in exchange for some town conditions, such as a walking trail and sidewalks on both sides of the streets.

Councilman Sloan Stevens, no fan of vinyl siding and valley curbs, was OK with conditional rezoning. That’s “the only way we can put our teeth into architectural standards,” he said. “If they were to straight rezone, there is nothing to stop them from buildings as cheap houses as possible.”

Still, only Councilmen David Barbour and John Dunn joined Stevens in favor of Buffalo Ridge. Voting no were Scott, Marlon Lee, Steve Rabil and Roger Wood.

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